Merry Christmas Thanksgiving

For me, Christmas is, in many ways, another Thanksgiving. There is this illusion that it is all about gifts and wearing red sweaters and making special cookies. Oh, and snow! But those things are just incidentals. Underneath it all is gratitude, thanksgiving. Gratitude is the motivator for the party, the gift giving and the moments of reverence and worship.

It's a time when I focus my attention on this gift of family and friends and community. Sometimes that can be bittersweet. Sometimes as I focus, I am reminded of people I cherish that I have lost through death or separation. But even those moments of grief are thanksgiving, gratitude for the gift those cherished people left behind on my heart. And then there are the parties, the food and laughter and games, we let our hair down and have fun with those we still do have.

I have to say a very special thanks for the gift of the Bonde family, my family by marriage and by heart. Last night we were watching old videos of when we were very young and just getting started. I am sooo grateful for the love and support and the joy of this amazing family I married into. Each Christmas reminds me again of this deep gift, this deep gratitude.

And then there is the gift of this baby, God who would come to be with us, this little Jesus Emmanuel. I think of this baby God, loving us so much, trusting us to hold him in our arms, to welcome him into our hearts. I can only say thank you! I am grateful for this love, this great love.

So I wish you all a Merry Christmas Thanksgiving! I hope the best gifts you get this Christmas are the moments you get to spend with the people you love and the time you spend holding that baby in your heart.

~love jules

Everyday Love

Good morning reading friends,

Everyday there is some thing, some one, some exquisite moment of wisdom, some sorrow, some surprising joy, some whisper of life that catches the corner of my eye. For a moment I forget about the laundry, the project deadline, the things left unsaid, the mistakes and unhealthy choices. For a  moment I let go of my dreams and expectations and just wallow in the mystery of a world that despite its struggle is so stunningly beautiful. In that tiny moment, tucked between the back to back to back appointments, I experience my birth once again. I fall in love with God. I fall in love with people. I fall in love with love.

It happened everyday this week already.
Sunday--the Sunday school children sang their hearts out with a message of "pay it forward." Their earnestness makes me a believer all over again.
Monday--I rolled the ball to my 8-month old granddaughter. She rolled it back. I said, "good job, Solveig!" Her response was to raise her hands in the air and utter her version of "yay!" I'd been working on teaching her this since i first laid on her. And now she knows on her own. Yay!
Tuesday--right hand on my heart-left hand on the back of the person in front of me...around the circle, I sang with my dear friends in Morning Star Singers. "Deep in my Heart." The songs and the people are deep in my heart indeed. 
Wednesday--This morning just standing in the shower, washing away the dirt and the grime as the rain/snow mix offer a similar effect to the exterior. Water blessing my body and my heart, one drop at a time. 

Everyday there is some thing, some one, some exquisite moment of awareness, some surprising joy. Everyday Love.